re: Wheel of Time - Season 1 - Amazon - NOW A BOOK READERS THREAD

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So did they take the prophecy of the dragon

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No, they mentioned the Dragon and the Dragon Reborn prophecy a few times over the first three episodes.

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and the Kaerenthon cycle out of the show?

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Not yet. Thom was introduced only in E3.

It's been a good decade or so since I read the books but I don't remember Nynaeve getting taken by the Trollocs, then escaping, then tracking the group to Shadar Logoth.

I would have liked to see a bit more story between Rand and his father. Setting up that relationship was damned near half of the first book. While I don't want it to go that slowly they sped through it far too fast.

I'm trying to watch the series as a non-reader (which isn't too difficult considering how long ago it was when I first read the series) to see if changes they've made work or not.

I see why they made the change to Perrin, I just don't necessarily like it. It should give him a reluctance to fight (making him far more empathetic to the Tinkers). We'll see what the Wheel wills.

I would rather that the scenes with the wolves chasing Perrin and Egwene would have made it a bit more clear that the wolves were funneling them toward the path made by the Tinkers' carts. Something like an overhead shot of the wolves running ahead to block them off then adjusting again once Perrin and Egwene changed directions. This would have worked especially well in the open area. Maybe even have the wolves block the route the Tinkers came from (because neither character gave a reason for why they thought the tracks went in one direction instead of the other).

Making Matt a poor thief... I don't remember if his family was dirt poor and had the problems they did. This setting sets him up for more of a character change going forward by losing his need for thieving as Matt's character changed little through the book series (or rather, what change he had wouldn't be as easy to express in a visual medium as it was via narrator in the books). I would like to have seen him a little more reluctant in stealing.

From simply a viewer standpoint, the conflict between Moiraine and Rand happened FAR too fast, with almost no real build-up. And then the others all chiming with comments that indicate other such conflicts have happened off-camera. That's not good.

We knew Rand was leery of them from the bar scene but that's pretty much it until he goes off on Moiraine. Until that point there's no conversations between the two that we see, so how is it that she was avoiding answering their questions if their questions were never asked?

There was no need for that. Run another episode if needed but that conflict (between Rand and Moiraine and eventually the Aes Sedai) is a strong theme which drives a lot of story but it needs a good foundation.

The Trollocs looked like the Wish.com version of LOTRs Uruk Hai (orcs). At times they were almost passable but they never quite make it. The Fade was solid though.

And can we stop with the woke crap in every fricking show? It was bad enough that they felt the need to create a racial rainbow out of the cast DESPITE their being detailed physical descriptions of each character but the whole Darkfriend conversation with Rand and Matt thinking they were butt-buddies and then Rand bascially saying "not that there's anything wrong with that"...

Not everything has to be some sort of affirmation of woke theology.

The casting of magic has been fairly shite. I blame a large part of this on Jordan himself for giving such exquisite narrative details on what the casters see but nothing on the movements non-casters see. I would like to have seen weaving movements put into play with style of hand gestures they use in The Magicians.





And then there's this...



That mole on her nostril... sometimes it's not noticeable but in some scenes...



Trying to look at this through the eyes of a non-reader, they've simply moved the story too fast. The Perrin and Matt changes aren't story-breaking but a non-reader might wonder "who was the guy in the cage at the end of E3?" (since Logain was mentioned only once and that was just in passing) and "what were those red Aes Sedai doing to that guy?" (stilling him) along with the feeling that the Moriaine/Rand confrontation was shoe-horned in.

Considering there's not a lot of new GOOD things to watch at the moment, the issues with WoT thus far aren't death-blows for it. Currently the first episode is Prime's most-watched series premiere of the year and one of their Top 5 in series launches. LINK. Amazon has already paid for two seasons so we know we're getting S2. What happens after that will depend on how the rest of S1 fares.

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if you watch the teaser released today about E4, looks like a ton of Logain stuff.

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Thanks. Didn't watch the teaser so I could but hope they would get into him and his story to the depth needed. Hopefully they'll use this to introduce "stilling" and the concept of tethers to the weave as well.

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he may be the best casting in the entire series thus far. He has a great voice (see: Money Heist) and that piercing stare with it

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Looks-wise I have to agree. Rand and Moiraine are solid as well (although she's supposed to be short, but that's forgivable). Lan and Matt just a smidge under them (Matt's main issue is they dress him like a beggar, but that actor has apparently been recast so we'll see).

Perrin was always a bit questionable to me but his thicker beard in the show (than in profile pics used early on in the hype process) is growing on me. For Perrin you want someone who looks a bit wolfish with a beard.

Nynaeve? No. She has a decent RBF but that's about it (although she hasn't really had much screentime yet). As a footnote to Nynaeve, they have started telegraphing the love interest with Lan FAAAAAAR too soon.

Thom is decent (the singing really helped).

Egwene... moley-moley-moley. It's so prominent that it's distracting.

Waiting to see Elayne and various Aes Sedai (looking at you, Siuan Sedai).

Dead serious but Egwene is a mole removal away from being hot

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Dead serious but Egwene is a mole removal away from being hot

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Truth.

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one of the whole themes of WOT was a SJW type relationship between women and men from the beginning. It wasn't until further along in the series that Rand and Mat (and the men in general) even got the upper hand over their female counterparts.

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If you're going to see it as a SJW theme then the story itself is about removing SJW (ie: the taint, which is what makes men inferior when dealing with the One Power).

Beyond that though, Jordan's depiction of male/female relationships themselves was hardly SJW, it was Jr. High drama.

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it was pretty clear what the women's circle thought of pretty much every man in town.

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I don't remember the men caring overmuch on what they thought (aside from the village Wisdom).

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ETA Maybe I'm wrong about Emond's Field, but they do refer to themselves as from The Two Rivers moreso than from Emond's Field. IDK...probably a nothing-burger.

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No, I think you're right. I think they MAY have mentioned Emond's Field once over the course of all three episodes. They've called it Two Rivers so much that non-readers undoubtedly think that's it's name. I noticed that as well and kept it in mind when I dove into the non-reader's thread (just referred to it as a generic like "their village" just to be on the safe side).

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Dead serious but Egwene is a mole removal away from being hot

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She’s a mole removal away from being mildly attractive.

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Trying to look at this through the eyes of a non-reader, they've simply moved the story too fast

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I have not read the books but I think they are racing through it. It is really lacking character development and seems to push forward to a point in time or a specific plot.

Have family in and haven't had time for episode 4 yet. Hopefully it's a step in the right direction for the full series.

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Beyond that though, Jordan's depiction of male/female relationships themselves was hardly SJW, it was Jr. High drama.

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This is gonna be great unless they remove the "red wedding" like part and Logain dicking down ability's then it would be SJW.